where good sleep begins

The Weirdest Ways Parents Trick Their Kids to Sleep

Without a doubt, one of the most stressful parts about being a parent of a newborn is the dreaded necessity of sleep. A lack of sleep for both baby and parents causes high-stress levels and ultimately impairs the health of everyone involved. The world is an exciting place, and many kids fight to stay awake rather than get the sleep they desperately need. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and when all else fails, truly creative methods of getting kids to sleep emerge. Here are the 17 of the silliest and weirdest ways parents trick their kids to sleep (they really work!). Plus, share your tricks in the comments for a chance to win our new Peaceful Panda!

“We told our daughters that there were furniture-stealing fairies and if they looked in the window and saw that they weren’t in their beds, they’d come in and steal the beds. It worked for a few months.” — Maggie Kirkvold

“I’d hold him while driving around the yard on a riding mower.” –Robert, Texas

“My [baby] will only go to sleep with out messing about if our dog goes to bed with her! They will stay cuddled up most of the night.” — Anne Marie Cunniffe

“[I] warm large towels in the dryer and then tuck them in their beds. They fall asleep quick when toasty!” — Jill Mooney

“With my younger son, I ‘race’ him to sleep. We have a race to see who can go to sleep first. Usually, he wins!” — Hali Marin

“I get nose to nose with her and cover her forehead with my hair.” –Nikita, Ohio

“The only way I can get my son to calm down and go back to sleep after feeding and changing him is to let him lay on his belly on top of me or my boyfriend! That’s the only way!” via The Stir

“Taking him outside, in the winter. Whenever he was really fussy and we couldn’t figure out why, my husband would just take him outside in the cold air and he’d calm right down and go back to sleep! He was born in January and has always been a ‘hot sleeper.'” via The Stir

A twist on the Monsters In The Closet: “My oldest was two when Monsters Inc. came out, and he loved it but was scared of Randall. He was really bad about going to bed and would fight, and fight, and fight to stay awake. One night, I was stretching and my toenail scraped along the wall and he freaked out huddling down saying that Randall was after him. I looked at him and he was laying so still with his eyes closed tight and the horrible Mommy that I am told him, ‘If you stay really still and go to sleep Randall can’t find you.’ Five minutes later, he was out. I used that trick for two years without fail and now that he’s 13, he still laughs and tells his friends how his mom got him to sleep at night.” via The Stir

“We got a box fan, and he used that for years. When I wanted him to wake up, I’d turn the fan off and his head would pop right up.” via The Stir

“One of my daughters had her nights and days switched around. I told my mom and she said turn her (somersault style) head-over-heels three times. I was so desperate, I tried it. Sure enough, it worked. She was sleeping eight hours at night (most nights) by 6 weeks old.” via The Stir

“I make painful noises, as if I’m so tired, it hurts. They always take to that, because that is how tired they feel! So they feel heard, and they know I am aware of their pain. Just rock them to those noises and they all fall asleep!” via The Stir

“When my son was starting to out grow his nap around age , the only way I could get him to sleep was to have him lay on a blanket and drag him around the house.” via The Stir

When reading children’s books fails — “Isabel engaged in the children’s books we read to her, and they kept her from sleeping,” says Jason from Parents.com. So he started reading some history books to her. “Max Hastings’ Armageddon was very effective. … If I read it out loud, slowly and methodically, she would go to sleep.”

“Sophia would go to sleep only if she played with my hair, so I would sit on the floor with my head against the bars [of her crib]. Luckily, I had longish hair; otherwise it would have been awkward.” Miriam Mathers via Parents.com

When she wakes up in the middle of the night, I roll her on her side and hold her in place. She’ll go right back to sleep unless she’s actually hungry. –Stephanie, Virginia via Cloud b

I gently blow on his face, forcing him to blink. Each time he closes his eyes, they remain closed longer and longer until he passes out. –Angela, Ohio via Cloud b

What tricks did (or do) you use to get your kids to sleep? Share them in the comments for a chance to win our new Peaceful Panda (ARV $32.95)!

This lovable, cuddly friend makes the perfect nighttime companion with its hidden sound machine that plays eight soothing sounds and melodies to lull your child into a restful, relaxing sleep. Ultra cuddly and soft, Peaceful Panda will be your child’s favorite stuffed playmate during the day and your favorite sleep solution at night.

Here’s how to enter…

UPDATE: Congratulations to Kelly Luczak for being our lucky winner! Thanks to everyone for participating and watch our blog for our next giveaway launching soon!

REQUIRED:

In the comments below, share what tricks work (or worked) to get your kids to sleep.

For each additional entry, leave a separate comment letting us know what you’ve done (and what your profile name is where relevant). If you’ve already done any of these in the past, just leave a comment stating so. You can enter up to 9 times by taking all of the actions listed above and the more entries you make, the more chances you have at winning!

He needs warm milk in his sippy cup, twilight buddies hipo on and the cloud b lamb on with the ocean sound on and after finishing his milk goes directly to his crib and he knows it’s bedtime, sometimes he goes to sleep right away sometimes he doesn’t.

A projection night light ans the giraffee from your store is what helped my two year old finally sleep through the night! With our second baby on the way we decided not to wait an be sure to get one of your sound machine animal asap!

We use the sleep sheep and twighlight turtle in our bed time routine. I love that we can take them with us when we are away from home, brings a something familiar and stable when the kids are in an unfamiliar place. Sometime the sleep sheep works for us adults too.

For my oldest son who is 6 now. I did the fake sleep method. LoL! It worked for awhile until I was the first one asleep all the time. But hey it worked he ended up falling asleep too. LoL! For my 8 month old it’s a tough one. So far method is my husband making a weird smacking chewing noise in his ear. And he literally floats on to la la land. For me I have to par his do all the extra miles to put him to sleep. I’ve tried doing what my husband does and he just gives me the stink eye LOL! But hey it works for us and he sleeps really good.

We would shut the door to my daughters room if she got out of bed, once she caught on mommy and daddy were serious we haven’t had any issues with bedtime. Oh except when twilight turtles batteries go out! If she isn’t asleep before the turtle goes out she’ll call for us to push the button again, even when it’s right above her head

That peaceful panda is the CUTEST! Before we moved to Texas, I contemplated a Panda themed nursery for Babe. I had an entire Pinterest board to it, and I still love the idea of a room built around Pandas and monochrome.

We convince our tot to go to sleep by putting on The Iron Giant, it’s his lullaby, and tickling his back. Our Baby is only 11 weeks, so she just falls asleep all the time, haha. Our two older kids are harder, but we tell them to rest until they’re tired enough to sleep!

I’m not sure you can even call this a trick, but to get our son to sleep we feed him his bedtime bottle then give him his paci, rock/snuggle him, then wait 15-20 minutes after he falls asleep to put him in his crib. A Peaceful Panda may help get him to sleep without such a crazy routine!

When my daughter was a newborn I had a whole routine I went through- I read her two stories, danced with her for two songs, turned on her light and played her noise maker! I still read her stories, 2 years later, but we have done away with the dancing! 🙂 <3

I quickly figured out that each of my babies struggled with being separated from me when I laid them down to sleep. So I took a small stuffed animal, slept with it a night so it got my smell on it, and then while nursing my baby I kept the animal snuggled between us. When transferring my babe to the crib, I kept the animal snuggled up to them. This gave them a piece of me that they could grasp onto while they slept. It was the best thing I did for their sleep, it helped all three of my boys. As they get older they outgrow it, but it’s still desired when they are away from me for an overnight to grandma’s house, and it was a tremendous comfort to my six year old when he got his tonsils out. Tip: buy multiples of the same stuffed animal, one will always need to be washed and there’s the risk of losing them. Also, make sure the size and shape is something easy for them to grasp but big enough to hug.

My daughter would instantly calm and fall asleep if I played Aqualung’s “Strange and Beautiful”. Even if I sang it myself or hummed it, she would fall asleep. We noticed this when she was 2 days old and wouldn’t stop crying in the car. I thought the song sounded soothing so we put in the CD. She loved it!